“They weren’t that good against Florida, haven’t been that good. But they were real good tonight. Sometimes that happens when

a team gets a little fire and energy and they have it. They had it tonight.”

A patchwork offensive line, the Tigers’ fifth different starting combination this year, was missing three original starters

but opened up enough room for 258 yards rushing against the SEC’s best second best run defense and, staring at what might

be the nation’s top defensive end duo, allowed only one sack of quarterback Zach Mettenberger.

They needed every yard of it. And another well-timed yard here and there might well have made it a comfortable victory.

Instead, the Tigers turned the red zone into their very own Bermuda Triangle, using a variety of mishaps to settle for field

goal attempts at the end of four impressive trips inside the 15 — and came away with sqaut on one o them when Drew Alleman

misfired from a mere 31 yards out.

“It didn’t matter if they scored or not,” said LSU defensive end Sam Montgomery, a South Carolina native. “Them being out

there for long drives gave us time to rest. We had their backs.”

Eric Reid’s interception in the fourth quarter finally set up Alleman’s go-head field goal, 16-14, with 6:37 to play, and moments later Hill finally bypassed the red zone fiascos with a 50-yard touchdown sprint that finally gave

the Tigers some breathing room. Hill also had a 7-yard scoring run to cap an impressive drive to open the second half.

“I was hoping all their little field goals might not add up,” Spurrier said. “But I guess that long run (by Hill) ended up

being the difference.”

But South Carolina answered with its most impressive drive of the night to pull to within the final margin, and a classic

Tiger Stadium crowd couldn’t exhale until the game’s final play when Craig Loston intercepted a last-gasp Hail Mary trying

to get the Gamecocks into position for field goal.

“We were ready to play, we have no excuses,” Spurrier said. “They out-played us and out-hit us.”

Miles gave credit to a crowd that harkened back to some of the loudest and most intimidating in Tiger Stadium’s lore.

“Let me tell you,” Miles said. “THAT was Death Valley. That was where opponents’ dreams come to die. It started early, it

went late and it was with us all night.”

They might have left earlier in a game

the Tigers dominated physically most of the way, but in the first half

two bad offensive

plays cost the Tigers 11 points and another three got lost when

Drew Alleman missed a relative chip field goal from 31-yards

out.

Mettenberger’s only bad pass, a telegraphed interception, was returned 70 yards to the LSU 1-yard by Gamecock Jimmy Legree

to set up South Carolina’s first score from point-blank range.

But LSU never let up.

“We were three-and-out a lot and they seldom were,” Spurrier said.

“When we rush the football and control the clock and get our snaps and take our defense off the field, we’re a whole different